This is the best way to find jobs in Germany! (Secrets no one would tell)

Germany has been the economic hub of Europe for more than a decade now. Excellent salary, unparalleled work-life balance and work culture, and an easy way towards PR and citizenship, the country never fails to attract qualified working professionals from all over the world.
So how to find jobs in Germany? Read on to figure out!

If you are any one of the following, then this post is for you..

You are a student in Germany who is looking for a part-time job or an internship.
You have finished your studies in Germany and now looking for a job.
Or, you are a working professional (maybe on a job seekers’ Visa) and looking for a suitable job in your field.

In any way, if you are trying to find a job in Germany, then this article is for you!

How to find jobs in Germany? SEVEN things you must try!

1. Using job portals to find jobs in Germany

This is the MOST common way job seekers and students try to find a job in Germany — not a surprise!
And of course, in these job portals, the rejection rates are quite high!
Job portals can be of the following types: Company’s own job portals in their website where vacancies are posted. Or, they can be websites like Stepstone.de, monster, and other third-party websites.
Even though I am not a huge fan of such job portals, I’d still think Stepstone can be a better option among these.
Why? It’s because Stepstone charge around €900 to €1700 to each company to put up a job vacancy for 30 days. This signifies that the companies who put up job vacancies there are really serious about finding the right candidate for them.

2. Professional social media to find jobs in Germany – LinkedIn/ Xing

Professional social media sites like LinkedIn and Xing can be a good way to reach out to companies or professionals who are working there. You can start by networking with them first and then ask for a referral from them. Tip number one: You need to keep your profile spot-on on these sites. Also, you can directly apply to the jobs posted on these sites. LinkedIn can also be a place where you can set filter and find the companies where alumni from your college or previous company are working, it’ll be easier for you to reach out to them.

3.Trying your luck in “Verdeckter Stellenmarkt” (the hidden job market) to find jobs in Germany!

Only 5% of the job applicants take benefit from this. Why? Because most of the job vacancies in German companies don’t even make it to the job portals. And this happens because of the hidden job market in Germany, which particularly works on a referral basis.

When a vacancy comes up, the hiring team first asks the employees of that same company if they know anyone suitable for that position. If something doesn’t come up in this stage then only they’d post an official job listing.

So, your networking skills in Germany should be spot on from day 1. And you should also try and stay on the company’s radar or database when the right time comes. How can you do that? By getting to your Werkstudent job there or by an Initiavbewerbung (unsolicited applications). And this becomes our Tip number 4.

4. Send Initiavbewerbung (or unsolicited applications)!

So what is an unsolicited application? Sending an unsolicited application means, even if there are no job listings for a company you are still sending an application from your side.

But in this case, the application needs to be extremely good and should show your interest in the company.

It should also reflect how you can add value to them. Since they are not looking for an employee right now, this needs to be perfect.

I myself have got personal success following this method and also helped some of my clients to get interviews in my Complete course on finding jobs in Germany.

Your email writing skills, your knowledge of the company, and your passion to work for them, all should come into play here. I myself got an internship from India while I was doing my B. Tech. in civil engineering by following this!

5. Make your CV, Cover letter the German way

You should follow the German format of writing a CV, and your CV and cover letter should be curated as per the job listing!

Sending one cover letter to multiple companies doesn’t really work.

This specifically is the case for the unsolicited applications too! Many times I see that the applicants only talk about themselves in the cover letter. Yes, of course, that’s necessary but it should also contain how well you know a company.
Along with this, you should how you can add value to them because, in the end, every business is looking for people who can help them out!

The 3 questions your cover letter must answer when you apply for jobs in Germany:

1. What have you done in the past?
2. What value/skillset you are going to bring to the company?
3. Which problem you’d like to solve for the business?

Answer them all correctly, and there’s a high chance that you are in for an interview!

6. Show your worth in the internship or the Werkstudent job

If you are a student who’s studying in a German university right now, you can also go and see the companies with which your university has a collaboration with. You can reach out to them and your chances of hearing back from them will be greater than hearing back from other companies. This is applicable for an internship, a part-time job, or permanent employment.

7. Learn German to find jobs in Germany

I can’t emphasize this enough. If you use German keywords while finding a job, your chances get a thousand times better! If you can speak fluent German, your chances of clearing an interview become a thousand times better too! And if your CV, cover letter, and emails are in German, your chances of hearing back become a thousand times better!

How can you learn German faster and that too from the comfort of your home? You can know more about it from here.

How companies hire you in Germany – The “Three step rule”!

Last week I was having the first Intensive coaching session for finding jobs in Germany of the month and Ajay, one of my students asked me a very interesting question.

He asked: Hey Bharat, can you please give me the exact “blueprint” of the hiring process for German companies?​
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Now coming to all the German giant MNCs, the companies I worked for, and also the German small and medium businesses, all of them have one thing in common when it comes to hiring.

And what is that?
The German companies hire employees in THREE common steps!

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​1. They look for referrals from their own employees.​
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2. They check their internal resources. And they are – Werkstudent, interns, Initiativbewerbung, and the Hidden job market (Verdeckter Stellenmarkt)​
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And then finally..

3. They post on their own website and third-party job portals.​

And the sad part?

85% of the job seekers apply at the third stage when the vacancy is finally put to the outside world! And this is where the problems start!
Because this is the thing, when the vacancy reaches the job portal a couple of things happen that would work against you:

1. Increased competition from the native job seekers from EU.

2. You’d lose out to the non-EU candidates who know both German and English (if you don’t have a solid German proficiency of B2+ you’d lose to them).

3. If your profile exactly doesn’t match with the job posting you’d lose again.

And that’s why I keep on repeating to my students also that it’s really important to try and get hired in stage 1 or 2 and not wait till the job vacancy reaches stage three!

How to find jobs in Germany AFTER the pandemic – Final notes!

Now comes the last part, how to find jobs in Germany during and after this Covid-19 pandemic.

First, let me assure you that, companies are always looking for good employees!

I was fortunate enough to be able to provide jobs to 9 people last year, during the Covid-19 times!

That means, during this pandemic when everybody was focused on keeping their jobs, there were also people who were so exceptionally motivated at doing a great job at small tasks they were given, that jobs came to them.

For so many of my business partners, things weren’t very different either. They have also expanded their teams during this pandemic.

And that’s why it’s important for you to have the other perspective: the perspective of an employer (which is also what I teach in my course on BiG Academy)

For small and medium businesses, the thing that is most important to them is finding people who give a shit about their business as much as they care about their own.

And trust me: finding people like that is extremely difficult.

But when an employer finds them, they try their best to keep them.

It depends a lot on the employees also.

How far they are willing to go and how much are they willing to support at times when they are not “obliged” to.

And if you are that important employee, that linchpin, for a company that it would actually hurt them to fire you: then you don’t even have to worry about losing your job.

It’s all about value addition.

And you can start adding value just by approaching new people, starting internships, starting part-time jobs, and giving suggestions to people higher up in the company because even though the middle management might not care about the business, the people up top definitely do.

And when you give a suggestion or volunteer to do something, you gain respect in their eyes.

When I started my internship back in 2015 at a Civil Engineering firm in Germany, I worked as hard as a full-time employee would work.

I would work on the weekends, I would sit together with the project lead, and work late at night.

Because I know if I can learn more about the business and show that the people can count on me to go the extra length when I am absolutely not supposed to, I will be part of the more “hard-working” and more “ambitious” group of the company: the group which always ends up being top managers and leading the company when the time comes.

So what happens when the bad times come?

The people who try to do the least amount of work possible, who aren’t passionate enough and didn’t add enough value to the company or the business, they get the boot first.

Not just that: if you add value to the company, you will have the confidence yourself that you’ll easily be able to do that for the next one and this confidence stays with you when you are writing your cover letters and sitting in interviews with companies.

So, when you are heading out to search for a job, do the following things:

1. Recognize who in this company cares about the problems of the company the most (most of the times it is the owner of the company or anybody higher up: they got there because of a reason)
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2. Connect with them on LinkedIn or Xing​
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3. Give them the belief that you are willing to put in the effort (are there some special things that you can do or have done in the past?)
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4. Start with a small ask, have a conversation about a meaningful topic, or share your experience and then do the big ask of asking if there’s a vacancy.

Of course, there are a lot more things that go inside landing a job, but you can definitely start with this.

In 2015, I was rejected 3 times by the same company after giving me the offer letter the 4th time.

Why?

Because I cared about the company and I would do anything for them to give me a chance to work with them and prove myself.

I didn’t take no for an answer and found opportunities to apply back to them.

Behind all those websites, all those email addresses, all those LinkedIn profiles: there are real people sitting behind: people who care about something, people who care about hardworking and reliable people who care about solving a problem.

You figure that out and you accomplish your goal.

And now I am able to teach these skills through the Complete course for finding jobs in Germany helps you get your part-time job, internship, or full-time employment at a German company.

Want to see how my students are doing?

These skills have worked for hundreds of people in different situations and they are not going to stop working now.

Just remember: Companies need employees who can add value and go out of their way and do things that are needed.

As long as you can do that, you’ll be fine.

So I really hope you’d to take care of this when you are applying for a job the next time

Still confused? Check out the webinar below:

I hope this post helps you to be motivated and follow the right path when it comes to find jobs in Germany.

Are you considering Germany as your next work destination? Or, Currently searching for jobs in Germany? Then you can download our Free PDF on “10 mistakes to avoid in a job application for Germany” from the following link: 10 mistakes to avoid in a job application for Germany

Also, don’t forget to check out my online course: Complete Course for finding jobs in Germany!